You guys, remember Princess Nokia’s 2014 mixtape Metallic Butterfly? It was her first. It was a beautifully all over the place mash-up of house, hip-hop, trip-hop, Afrobeat, jazz and video game-inspired melodies. For those that know, surprise! Rough Trade have just remastered and re-released an expanded version of your fave LP with three bonus singles that never (but should’ve) made the cut the first time around. For those who have no idea what we’re on about, you’re welcome. Produced by OWWWLS aka Christopher Lare, still Destiny Frasqueri’s tour DJ, you’ll find that new tracks Anomaly and Versace Hottie make an appearance in today’s playlist, alongside revamped Dragons. Because, well, dragons. Destiny wrote the below note to herself on release day four and a half years ago.
You can never have too much Ariana Grande, so you’ll be stoked to hear that the 2k18 angel just followed up thank u, next with — a song about staying up all night and ordering pad Thai. Not too far off our plans for after the i-D office party later, but much more sexy. “For those of you asking about imagine,” she said of the release. “I would say if thank u, next = acceptance… imagine = denial.” There’s new stuff from Wiki, Obongjayar and JJ with their smooth Elixir; Higher Brothers with 16 Hours; and Theon Cross, Moses Boyd and Nubya Garcia with their brilliantly-named jazz fest that is Panda Village.
ZAYN released his second solo album Icarus Falls overnight too, which has 27 tracks and features from Nicki Minaj and Timbaland. Someone’s been busy. We stuck There You Are on the playlist today because we heard it was about Gigi, and that’s always fun, isn’t it? There’s also great new music from Yxng Bane and Fredo (on a roll), Hikaru Arata, Rico Nasty, SAKIMA, Charlotte Gainsbourg, PUSSYLIQUOR and more. Enjoy!